Ferdinand III (Ferdinand Ernest; 13 July 1608 – 2 April 1657) was Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary and Croatia from 1625, King of Bohemia from 1627 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1637 to his death. Ferdinand ascended the throne at the beginning of the last decade of the Thirty Years' War and introduced lenient policies to depart from the old ideas of divine rights under his father, as he had wished to end the war quickly. After military defeats and against a background of declining power, Ferdinand was compelled to abandon the political stances of his Habsburg predecessors in many respects to open the long road towards the much-delayed peace treaty. Although his authority as emperor was weakened after the war, his position in Bohemia, Hungary and Austria was stronger than that of his predecessors before 1618. Ferdinand was the first Habsburg monarch to be recognised as a musical composer. Source: Wikipedia (en)